Week of Track Preview: Double Diamond League & Will Sumner Returns
There are Diamond Leagues in Oslo and Stockholm plus the HBCU Classic in Atlanta
By Joseph Carroll
There is another busy week of track ahead of us with the final two Diamond Leagues before the monthlong break for the European Championships/US Olympic Trials as well as an American Track league stop in Atlanta featuring Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone‘s first 400 hurdles race in two years and the season debut of US 800m star Will Sumner.
The action starts on Thursday in Oslo with the Bislett Games, followed by the the Edwin Moses Legends Meet in Atlanta on Friday and the BAUHAUS-Galan in Stockholm on Sunday. We preview each of the events below, with details on how to watch and get results.
| Event | Date/Time | Streaming | Live Results |
| Diamond League Oslo | Thursday 2:00 p.m. ET | Peacock | Live Results |
| The HBCU Classic at The Edwin Moses Track | Friday 5:00 p.m ET | FloTrack | Live Results |
| Stockholm Diamond League | Sunday 12:00 p.m. ET | Peacock | Live Results |
| Hoka Festival of Miles | Thursday 7:15 p.m ET | Runnerspace | Heat Sheets |
Diamond League Oslo (Bislett Games)
Bislett Games (Oslo Diamond League)
When: Thursday, May 30, 2:00 p.m. ET.
Where: Oslo, Norway
Streaming: Peacock *Live Results
After an action-packed Prefontaine Classic, the next stop on the Diamond League tour is in Oslo just five days (and 4,800 miles) later. With a rainy week forecasted, track fans can only hope that poor conditions will not slow down some of track’s brightest stars. Fresh off a rare defeat, Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will face a strong field in the 1500. Among his competitors will be world bronze medalist Narve Nordås, who nearly took down Ingebrigtsen at Worlds last year, but was uncompetitive at his last Diamond League race in Doha, finishing sixth in 3:33.87. Also coming back from the Bowerman mile will be Brit Neil Gourley, who finished a strong fourth place in 3:47.74, and Australian Ollie Hoare, who finished ninth in 3:49.11. This is a deep field with 10 runners who have run 3:30 or faster, including 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot.
Another strong distance field is the men’s 5k, featuring current world record holder Joshua Cheptegei, who will be racing world indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha, world silver medalist Hagos Gebrhiwet, 2024 world cross country champion Jacob Kiplimo, and Ethiopian Haile Bekele, who have all run in the 12:40s. World Championship fourth placer Luis Grijalva, world indoor champion Samuel Tefera, and 17-year-old teen sensation Biniam Mehary will also be part of this field.
Meet organizers are openly wondering whether this race could produce the first sub-12:30 time in history. That may be a bit aggressive considering the world record is 12:35.36, but this is a deep field as it features five of the nine fastest men ever in the 5,000.
The 400 hurdles look to be an epic two-man race. It will be Olympic champion Karsten Warholm, who just ran the second-fastest time ever in the 300m hurdle (33.28) in his season opener, taking on 2022 world champion Alison Dos Santos. It is the first clash between any of the hurdles’ “big three” and both men will have an eye on Rai Benjamin‘s 46.64 world leader.r
The women’s sprints also have strong fields. In the women’s 400m, world champion Marileidy Paulino will be facing world silver medalist Natalia Kaczmarek, world indoor silver medalist Lieke Klaver, and world bronze medalist Sada Williams in a clash of four sub-50 women. In the women’s 200m, it will be world champion Shericka Jackson in her signature event. The men’s 100m has a field featuring Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs and 2011 world champion Yohan Blake. The program also features a women’s 800m field headlined by an in-form Prudence Sekgodiso of South Africa (1:57.26 sb) and a men’s discus field led by world record holder Mykolas Alekna.
Hoka Festival of Miles
When: Thursday, May 31, 7:15 p.m ET
Where: St. Louis, Missouri
Streaming: Runnerspace
Strong high school and pro fields headline this meet. The main story to watch will be senior Drew Griffith the footlocker national champion trying to potentially break Simeon Birnbaum’s meet record (3:57.53). The pro field features many Hoka athletes including Krissy Gear who made a U.S. team in steeple last year.
The Edwin Moses Legends Meet
When: Friday, May 31, 5:00 p.m ET
Where: Atlanta, Georgia
Streaming: FloTrack *Live Results
Instead of flying across the world to face rival Femke Bol, world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has opted to stay on home soil and race in Atlanta in her first 400m hurdle race since 2022. When Sydney does race, it is usually spectacular, as coach Bobby Kersee rarely lets his athletes race before they are ready. In the men’s 800, NCAA champion Will Sumner will toe the line against Olympic finalist Peter Bol whose comeback from an overturned provisional suspension for EPO took another turn last week.
There are a few other races of note here with Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn looking to rebound in the 100 hurdles after two straight losses, going up against former world record holder Keni Harrison, who has also had a slow start to her outdoor season. World Indoor bronze medalist Alexis Holmes will race in the 400, while U.S. mixed relay leg Matthew Boling will race the 200 as will world finalist Tamari Davis in the women’s race.
BAUHAUS-Galan (Stockholm Diamond League)
When: Sunday, June 2, 12:00 p.m. ET.
Where: Stockholm, Sweden
Streaming: Peacock *Live Results
The second Diamond League of the week will be close by, staying in Scandinavia. It will be the last Diamond League for over a month as there is a pause for the European Championships and countries’ national championships. The headliners of the meet will be the pair of 400 hurdle races. In the men’s race, 2022 world champion Alison Dos Santos will face 2023 world championship silver medalist Kyron McMaster, who beat Dos Santos at last year’s Worlds. This will be their second matchup of the week as they are both racing in Oslo on Thursday.
In the women’s race, it will be world champion Femke Bol who will likely be running against the clock as her last loss came almost two years ago at the 2022 World Championships, where she finished second to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Can Bol close the gap and put herself in the mix for the gold medal in Paris? We will get a good indication after her hurdles season opener here.
In the men’s steeple, we will see world record holder Lamecha Girma run his first steeple of the year. So far he has been working on his speed, as he works to avoid getting outsprinted again by Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali come the major championships. He has run a 1500 in Doha where he got fourth place in 3:33.54 and narrowly avoided getting dead last in the Bowerman Mile on Saturday, outleaning American Cooper Teare to get 13th out of 14 after a fall. Not exactly an ideal start to the season.
Girma will be challenged by newly minted world indoor 1500 champion Geordie Beamish, who has had the opposite trajectory of Girma this year. He picked up steeple last year and finished 5th at the World Championships — two seconds back of a medal, but eight seconds back of Girma, who finished second. This year Beamish was a surprise winner in the 1500 at world indoors and was just eighth in the Bowerman mile running 3:49.09, beating Girma by four seconds. Will an extra year of training, better fitness, and a killer kick vault Beamish into the medal conversion later this summer? Could he even be kicking for the win in a slower race? This will be a good test.
They will also be racing off against Samuel Firewu and Getnet Wale, who are ranked fifth and sixth in the world and American Hillary Bor who is in good form and a likely representative for the United States in Paris.
We will see two-time world champion Shericka Jackson double back from Oslo in the women’s 200m and Brit Laura Muir facing off against 3:53 Ethiopian Birke Haylom in the 1500. The men’s 3000m, an event rarely run on the circuit, is a deep one as World Championship finalist Luis Grijalva and 7:25 man Haile Bekele will be coming from the 5000m in Oslo to Stockholm for a rematch. Also in the field are Australian Stewart McSweyn, South African Adriaan Wildschutt, and the home nation favorite Andreas Almgren.
In the men’s 800, it will be world indoor champion Bryce Hoppel taking on 2022 world championship silver medalist Djamel Sedjati and 2022’s 1500m world champion Jake Wightman. Hoppel has not lost an 800 this year and will look to continue that on Sunday. In field action, there is a strong women’s triple jump and women’s shot put. World record holder Mondo Duplantis will compete in pole vault and world record holder Mykolas Alekna will throw men’s discus for the second Diamond League meet in a row.
